TheStreet Upgrades Boyd Gaming Corp. (BYD) to Buy

Boyd Gaming Corp. (NYSE:BYD) was upgraded by research analysts at TheStreet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday.

BYD has been the subject of a number of other reports. Zacks Investment Research raised Boyd Gaming Corp. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 4th. Deutsche Bank AG decreased their target price on Boyd Gaming Corp. from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 2nd. Telsey Advisory Group decreased their target price on Boyd Gaming Corp. from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 4th. Finally, Gabelli reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $28.00 target price on shares of Boyd Gaming Corp. in a research note on Monday, October 17th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. The stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $22.58.

Shares of Boyd Gaming Corp. (NYSE:BYD) opened at 18.82 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.43 and a beta of 1.69. Boyd Gaming Corp. has a 12 month low of $14.22 and a 12 month high of $21.43. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $18.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.94.

Boyd Gaming Corp. (NYSE:BYD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 1st. The company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.01. The company earned $531.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $543.13 million. Boyd Gaming Corp. had a net margin of 18.37% and a return on equity of 13.66%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.27 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Boyd Gaming Corp. will post $0.79 earnings per share for the current year.

In other Boyd Gaming Corp. news, insider Robert L. Boughner sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.81, for a total value of $990,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 144,560 shares in the company, valued at $2,863,733.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP William R. Boyd sold 20,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.78, for a total value of $405,490.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 18,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $356,574.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 29.67% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. First Republic Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Boyd Gaming Corp. during the first quarter worth $109,697,000. Bridger Management LLC bought a new position in Boyd Gaming Corp. during the first quarter worth approximately $19,795,000. Lodge Hill Capital LLC bought a new position in Boyd Gaming Corp. during the second quarter worth approximately $17,112,000. Scopus Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Boyd Gaming Corp. during the third quarter worth approximately $16,813,000. Finally, Numeric Investors LLC raised its position in Boyd Gaming Corp. by 577.6% in the second quarter. Numeric Investors LLC now owns 916,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,868,000 after buying an additional 781,447 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.83% of the company’s stock.